The Cuban home of Ernest Hemingway is on a list of the United States' most-endangered historic places.

It is the first time a building outside of the US has been featured on the list of places worthy of protection.

"Hemingway is such a revered literary figure in this country and around the world," said the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Richard Moe.

The house on a hill east of Havana was left to Cuba after Hemingway's suicide in 1961, and is now a museum.

Hemingway lived at Finca Vigia (Lookout Farm) from 1939 to 1960 and wrote his book The Old Man and the Sea there, which won him a Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize for literature.

During his time there he entertained celebrities including Ava Gardner and Gary Cooper.

Cubans are working to protect Hemingway's home

The house's exposed position and the tropical hurricane climate of Cuba has left the building with serious structural problems, with experts calling it a "preservation emergency".

A team of surveyors will now travel to the site having been given permission by US authorities.

A previous request was denied under the Cuban embargo because it was seen as supporting tourism and the economy.

Authorities would still have to grant a license for any money to be spent on restoring the home.

National Trust President Richard Moe said the Cubans had done their best to save the building on limited resources.

"The Cubans have been excellent stewards of this property but time and weather have taken their toll," said Mr Moe.

Other sites on the endangered list include North Alaska's King Island, which represents the culture of Inupiat Eskimos, and a large swathe of land in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, which encompasses six homes of former US presidents.